Relative coordination. Kateri-/koteri-relatives in 18th century Slovene and Kajkavian

As compared to their contemporary varieties, 18th century Slovene and Kajkavian literary sources exhibit a larger range of relative clause constructions introduced by the interrogative-based pronouns kateri/koteri ‘which’. Systematising this variation promises to add to the debate on the typology of relativisation strategies and relative clause structures, and to allow for a closer understanding of the emergence of the relativising function for kateri/koteri (and cognates). Focusing in particular on the structures that are marginal or even obsolete in the contemporary varieties, the argument put forth in this paper is that in times of a developing literacy with specific needs in terms of content and elaboration, Latin might have served as a model for kateri-/koteri-constructions in 18th century Slovene and Kajkavian. More specifically, authors used language inherent means, i.e., interrogative pronouns of the type ‘which of two’, in new functions to adapt a structure available in Latin such as to meet particular genre-specific purposes. The fact that some of these structures went out of use with the diminishing role of the relevant genres illustrates how literary trends may coin functional and/or structural patterns that might appear marginal at first sight but are actually highly revealing for gaining insight into the processes that drive language contact and change

Herstellung eines biolumineszierenden Helicobacter pylori Stammes - und dessen Einsatz im Tiermodell der Mongolischen Wüstenrennmaus

Helicobacter pylori ist ein gramnegatives, spiralförmiges Bakterium, dessen natürliches Habitat der menschliche Magen darstellt. Ungefähr 50% der weltweiten Bevölkerung gelten als infiziert, wobei die Infektion nur in 10% der Fälle symptomatisch ist. Komplikationen einer H. pylori Infektion sind chronische Gastritis, Ulcus ventriculi et duodeni, Magenkarzinom und gastrales MALT-Lymphom. Obwohl die gemeinsame Geschichte von Homo sapiens und Helicobacter pylori weit zurückreicht, wurde H. pylori und sein Zusammenhang mit diversen Magenerkrankungen erst in den 80iger Jahren des 20. Jahrhunderts bekannt, was dazu führt, dass noch viele Fragen unbeantwortet sind. Biolumineszenz Bildgebung in vitro und in vivo könnte bei der Antwortsuche behilflich sein. Die Möglichkeit durch biolumineszierende Erreger Infektionen longitudinal und quasi unmittelbar im lebenden Tier darstellen zu können ohne das Versuchsobjekt bei der Untersuchung zu zerstören, stellt eine große Chance dar, die schon bei vielen verschiedenen Bakterien genutzt wurde. Ziel dieser Arbeit war es mit Hilfe des Luciferase-Operons des Bakteriums Photorhabdus luminescens biolumineszierende H. pylori zu konstruieren und im Weiteren deren Überleben im Tiermodell zu testen. Dabei wurden verschiedene Konstrukte gewählt, die entweder das Lux-Operon (luxCDABE) im Ganzen exprimierten oder geteilt in seine funktionellen Einheiten luxAB und luxCDE. Weiter wurden verschiedene Insertionsorte und verschiedene Promotoren ausprobiert. Es gelang schließlich 7 verschiedene biolumineszierende H. pylori Mutanten mit verschiedenen Biolumineszenzintensitäten zu generieren. Von diesen H. pylori Mutanten konnte eine 8 Wochen nach Infektion aus dem Tier rückisoliert werden, wobei die Fähigkeit zur Biolumineszenz erhalten blieb. Die ersten Schritte auf dem Weg zu einem biolumineszierenden H. pylori und der Biolumineszenz Bildgebung desselben in vivo sind getan. Verbesserungen der Konstrukte, andere Promotoren, Insertionsorte, Modelltiere und neuartige CCD-Kameras lassen eine große Bandbreite an Variationen und Möglichkeiten zu, deren Ergebnisse sich in Zukunft weiter zeigen werden

Herstellung eines biolumineszierenden Helicobacter pylori Stammes - und dessen Einsatz im Tiermodell der Mongolischen Wüstenrennmaus

Helicobacter pylori ist ein gramnegatives, spiralförmiges Bakterium, dessen natürliches Habitat der menschliche Magen darstellt. Ungefähr 50% der weltweiten Bevölkerung gelten als infiziert, wobei die Infektion nur in 10% der Fälle symptomatisch ist. Komplikationen einer H. pylori Infektion sind chronische Gastritis, Ulcus ventriculi et duodeni, Magenkarzinom und gastrales MALT-Lymphom. Obwohl die gemeinsame Geschichte von Homo sapiens und Helicobacter pylori weit zurückreicht, wurde H. pylori und sein Zusammenhang mit diversen Magenerkrankungen erst in den 80iger Jahren des 20. Jahrhunderts bekannt, was dazu führt, dass noch viele Fragen unbeantwortet sind. Biolumineszenz Bildgebung in vitro und in vivo könnte bei der Antwortsuche behilflich sein. Die Möglichkeit durch biolumineszierende Erreger Infektionen longitudinal und quasi unmittelbar im lebenden Tier darstellen zu können ohne das Versuchsobjekt bei der Untersuchung zu zerstören, stellt eine große Chance dar, die schon bei vielen verschiedenen Bakterien genutzt wurde. Ziel dieser Arbeit war es mit Hilfe des Luciferase-Operons des Bakteriums Photorhabdus luminescens biolumineszierende H. pylori zu konstruieren und im Weiteren deren Überleben im Tiermodell zu testen. Dabei wurden verschiedene Konstrukte gewählt, die entweder das Lux-Operon (luxCDABE) im Ganzen exprimierten oder geteilt in seine funktionellen Einheiten luxAB und luxCDE. Weiter wurden verschiedene Insertionsorte und verschiedene Promotoren ausprobiert. Es gelang schließlich 7 verschiedene biolumineszierende H. pylori Mutanten mit verschiedenen Biolumineszenzintensitäten zu generieren. Von diesen H. pylori Mutanten konnte eine 8 Wochen nach Infektion aus dem Tier rückisoliert werden, wobei die Fähigkeit zur Biolumineszenz erhalten blieb. Die ersten Schritte auf dem Weg zu einem biolumineszierenden H. pylori und der Biolumineszenz Bildgebung desselben in vivo sind getan. Verbesserungen der Konstrukte, andere Promotoren, Insertionsorte, Modelltiere und neuartige CCD-Kameras lassen eine große Bandbreite an Variationen und Möglichkeiten zu, deren Ergebnisse sich in Zukunft weiter zeigen werden

Effects of enhanced adsorption haemofiltration versus haemoadsorption in severe, refractory septic shock with high levels of endotoxemia: the ENDoX bicentric, randomized, controlled trial

Background Endotoxin adsorption is a promising but controversial therapy in severe, refractory septic shock and conflicting results exist on the effective capacity of available devices to reduce circulating endotoxin and inflammatory cytokine levels. Methods Multiarm, randomized, controlled trial in two Swiss intensive care units, with a 1:1:1 randomization of patients suffering severe, refractory septic shock with high levels of endotoxemia, defined as an endotoxin activity ≥ 0.6, a vasopressor dependency index ≥ 3, volume resuscitation of at least 30 ml/kg/24 h and at least single organ failure, to a haemoadsorption (Toraymyxin), an enhanced adsorption haemofiltration (oXiris) or a control intervention. Primary endpoint was the difference in endotoxin activity at 72-h post-intervention to baseline. In addition, inflammatory cytokine, vasopressor dependency index and SOFA-Score dynamics over the initial 72 h were assessed inter alia. Results In the 30, out of 437 screened, randomized patients (10 Standard of care, 10 oXiris, 10 Toraymyxin), endotoxin reduction at 72-h post-intervention-start did not differ among interventions (Standard of Care: 12 [1–42]%, oXiris: 21 [10–51]%, Toraymyxin: 23 [10–36]%, p = 0.82). Furthermore, no difference between groups could be observed neither for reduction of inflammatory cytokine levels (p = 0.58), nor for vasopressor weaning (p = 0.95) or reversal of organ injury (p = 0.22). Conclusions In a highly endotoxemic, severe, refractory septic shock population neither the Toraymyxin adsorber nor the oXiris membrane could show a reduction in circulating endotoxin or cytokine levels over standard of care

Estimating Trends in the Proportion of Transmitted and Acquired HIV Drug Resistance in a Long Term Observational Cohort in Germany

Objective: We assessed trends in the proportion of transmitted (TDR) and acquired (ADR) HIV drug resistance and associated mutations between 2001 and 2011 in the German ClinSurv-HIV Drug Resistance Study. Method: The German ClinSurv-HIV Drug Resistance Study is a subset of the German ClinSurv-HIV Cohort. For the ClinSurv-HIV Drug Resistance Study all available sequences isolated from patients in five study centres of the long term observational ClinSurv-HIV Cohort were included. TDR was estimated using the first viral sequence of antiretroviral treatment (ART) naive patients. One HIV sequence/patient/year of ART experienced patients was considered to estimate the proportion of ADR. Trends in the proportion of HIV drug resistance were calculated by logistic regression. Results: 9,528 patients were included into the analysis. HIV-sequences of antiretroviral naive and treatment experienced patients were available from 34% (3,267/9,528) of patients. The proportion of TDR over time was stable at 10.4% (95% CI 9.1-11.8; p (for trend)=0.6; 2001-2011). The proportion of ADR among all treated patients was 16%, whereas it was high among those with available HIV genotypic resistance test (64%; 1,310/2,049 sequences; 95% CI 62-66) but declined significantly over time (OR 0.8; 95% CI 0.77-0.83; p (for trend)<0.001; 2001-2011). Viral load monitoring subsequent to resistance testing was performed in the majority of treated patients (96%) and most of them (67%) were treated successfully. Conclusions: The proportion of TDR was stable in this study population. ADR declined significantly over time. This decline might have been influenced by broader resistance testing, resistance test guided therapy and the availability of more therapeutic options and not by a decline in the proportion of TDR within the study population

Combined Analysis of Myocardial Deformation and Oxygenation Detects Inducible Ischemia Unmasked by Breathing Maneuvers in Chronic Coronary Syndrome.

Introduction In patients with chronic coronary syndromes, hyperventilation followed by apnea has been shown to unmask myocardium susceptible to inducible deoxygenation. The aim of this study was to assess whether such a provoked response is co-localized with myocardial dysfunction. Methods A group of twenty-six CAD patients with a defined stenosis (quantitative coronary angiography > 50%) underwent a cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) exam prior to revascularization. Healthy volunteers older than 50 years served as controls (n = 12). Participants hyperventilated for 60s followed by brief apnea. Oxygenation-sensitive images were analyzed for changes in myocardial oxygenation and strain. Results In healthy subjects, hyperventilation resulted in global myocardial deoxygenation (-10.2 ± 8.2%, p 0.05), yet this was significant for both myocardial oxygenation [area under the curve (AUC): 0.88, p > 0.001] and peak strain (AUC: 0.73, p = 0.023) measured with apnea. A combined analysis of myocardial oxygenation and peak strain resulted in an incrementally higher AUC of 0.91, p < 0.001 than strain alone. Conclusion In myocardium of patients with chronic coronary syndromes and primarily intermediate coronary stenoses, cine oxygenation-sensitive CMR can identify an impaired vascular and functional response to a vasoactive breathing maneuver stimulus indicative of inducible ischemia

Rapid decay of unstable Leishmania mRNAs bearing a conserved retroposon signature 3′-UTR motif is initiated by a site-specific endonucleolytic cleavage without prior deadenylation

We have previously shown that the Leishmania genome possess two widespread families of extinct retroposons termed Short Interspersed DEgenerated Retroposons (SIDER1/2) that play a role in post-transcriptional regulation. Moreover, we have demonstrated that SIDER2 retroposons promote mRNA degradation. Here we provide new insights into the mechanism by which unstable Leishmania mRNAs harboring a SIDER2 retroposon in their 3′-untranslated region are degraded. We show that, unlike most eukaryotic transcripts, SIDER2-bearing mRNAs do not undergo poly(A) tail shortening prior to rapid turnover, but instead, they are targeted for degradation by a site-specific endonucleolytic cleavage. The main cleavage site was mapped in two randomly selected SIDER2-containing mRNAs in vivo between an AU dinucleotide at the 5′-end of the second 79-nt signature (signature II), which represents the most conserved sequence amongst SIDER2 retroposons. Deletion of signature II abolished endonucleolytic cleavage and deadenylation-independent decay and increased mRNA stability. Interestingly, we show that overexpression of SIDER2 anti-sense RNA can increase sense transcript abundance and stability, and that complementarity to the cleavage region is required for protecting SIDER2-containing transcripts from degradation. These results establish a new paradigm for how unstable mRNAs are degraded in Leishmania and could serve as the basis for a better understanding of mRNA decay pathways in general

Cathelicidins prime platelets to mediate arterial thrombosis and tissue inflammation

Leukocyte-released antimicrobial peptides contribute to pathogen elimination and activation of the immune system. Their role in thrombosis is incompletely understood. Here we show that the cathelicidin LL-37 is abundant in thrombi from patients with acute myocardial infarction. Its mouse homologue, CRAMP, is present in mouse arterial thrombi following vascular injury, and derives mainly from circulating neutrophils. Absence of hematopoietic CRAMP in bone marrow chimeric mice reduces platelet recruitment and thrombus formation. Both LL-37 and CRAMP induce platelet activation in vitro by involving glycoprotein VI receptor with downstream signaling through protein tyrosine kinases Src/Syk and phospholipase C. In addition to acute thrombosis, LL-37/CRAMP-dependent platelet activation fosters platelet-neutrophil interactions in other inflammatory conditions by modulating the recruitment and extravasation of neutrophils into tissues. Absence of CRAMP abrogates acid-induced lung injury, a mouse pneumonia model that is dependent on platelet-neutrophil interactions. We suggest that LL-37/CRAMP represents an important mediator of platelet activation and thrombo-inflammation

Marketing (as) Rhetoric: paradigms, provocations, and perspectives

In this collection of short, invited essays on the topic of marketing (as) rhetoric we deal with a variety of issues that demonstrate the centrality of rhetoric and rhetorical considerations to the pursuit of marketing scholarship, research and practice. Stephen Brown examines the enduring rhetorical power of the 4Ps; Chris Hackley argues for the critical power of rhetorical orientations in marketing scholarship but cautions us on the need to work harder in conceptually connecting rhetorical theory and modern marketing frameworks; Shelby Hunt explains how rhetorical processes are incorporated in his inductive realist model of theory generation, using one of his most successful publications as an illustration; Charles Marsh demonstrates what Isocrates’ broad rhetorical project has to teach us about the importance of reputation cultivation in modern marketing; Nicholas O’Shaughnessy uses an analysis of Trump’s discourse to argue that political marketing as it is currently conceived is ill-equipped to engage effectively with the rhetorical force of Trump’s ‘unmarketing’; Barbara Phillips uses Vygotsky’s work on imagination to investigate the important of pleasure and play in advertising rhetoric; and finally, David Tonks, who in many ways started it all, reiterates the need for marketers to recognise the strength of the relationship between marketing and persuasion

Insect pathogens as biological control agents: back to the future

The development and use of entomopathogens as classical, conservation and augmentative biological control agents have included a number of successes and some setbacks in the past 15 years. In this forum paper we present current information on development, use and future directions of insect-specific viruses, bacteria, fungi and nematodes as components of integrated pest management strategies for control of arthropod pests of crops, forests, urban habitats, and insects of medical and veterinary importance. Insect pathogenic viruses are a fruitful source of MCAs, particularly for the control of lepidopteran pests. Most research is focused on the baculoviruses, important pathogens of some globally important pests for which control has become difficult due to either pesticide resistance or pressure to reduce pesticide residues. Baculoviruses are accepted as safe, readily mass produced, highly pathogenic and easily formulated and applied control agents. New baculovirus products are appearing in many countries and gaining an increased market share. However, the absence of a practical in vitro mass production system, generally higher production costs, limited post application persistence, slow rate of kill and high host specificity currently contribute to restricted use in pest control. Overcoming these limitations are key research areas for which progress could open up use of insect viruses to much larger markets. A small number of entomopathogenic bacteria have been commercially developed for control of insect pests. These include several Bacillus thuringiensis sub-species, Lysinibacillus (Bacillus) sphaericus, Paenibacillus spp. and Serratia entomophila. B. thuringiensis sub-species kurstaki is the most widely used for control of pest insects of crops and forests, and B. thuringiensis sub-species israelensis and L. sphaericus are the primary pathogens used for medically important pests including dipteran vectors,. These pathogens combine the advantages of chemical pesticides and microbial control agents (MCAs): they are fast acting, easy to produce at a relatively low cost, easy to formulate, have a long shelf life and allow delivery using conventional application equipment and systemics (i.e. in transgenic plants). Unlike broad spectrum chemical pesticides, B. thuringiensis toxins are selective and negative environmental impact is very limited. Of the several commercially produced MCAs, B. thuringiensis (Bt) has more than 50% of market share. Extensive research, particularly on the molecular mode of action of Bt toxins, has been conducted over the past two decades. The Bt genes used in insect-resistant transgenic crops belong to the Cry and vegetative insecticidal protein families of toxins. Bt has been highly efficacious in pest management of corn and cotton, drastically reducing the amount of broad spectrum chemical insecticides used while being safe for consumers and non-target organisms. Despite successes, the adoption of Bt crops has not been without controversy. Although there is a lack of scientific evidence regarding their detrimental effects, this controversy has created the widespread perception in some quarters that Bt crops are dangerous for the environment. In addition to discovery of more efficacious isolates and toxins, an increase in the use of Bt products and transgenes will rely on innovations in formulation, better delivery systems and ultimately, wider public acceptance of transgenic plants expressing insect-specific Bt toxins. Fungi are ubiquitous natural entomopathogens that often cause epizootics in host insects and possess many desirable traits that favor their development as MCAs. Presently, commercialized microbial pesticides based on entomopathogenic fungi largely occupy niche markets. A variety of molecular tools and technologies have recently allowed reclassification of numerous species based on phylogeny, as well as matching anamorphs (asexual forms) and teleomorphs (sexual forms) of several entomopathogenic taxa in the Phylum Ascomycota. Although these fungi have been traditionally regarded exclusively as pathogens of arthropods, recent studies have demonstrated that they occupy a great diversity of ecological niches. Entomopathogenic fungi are now known to be plant endophytes, plant disease antagonists, rhizosphere colonizers, and plant growth promoters. These newly understood attributes provide possibilities to use fungi in multiple roles. In addition to arthropod pest control, some fungal species could simultaneously suppress plant pathogens and plant parasitic nematodes as well as promote plant growth. A greater understanding of fungal ecology is needed to define their roles in nature and evaluate their limitations in biological control. More efficient mass production, formulation and delivery systems must be devised to supply an ever increasing market. More testing under field conditions is required to identify effects of biotic and abiotic factors on efficacy and persistence. Lastly, greater attention must be paid to their use within integrated pest management programs; in particular, strategies that incorporate fungi in combination with arthropod predators and parasitoids need to be defined to ensure compatibility and maximize efficacy. Entomopathogenic nematodes (EPNs) in the genera Steinernema and Heterorhabditis are potent MCAs. Substantial progress in research and application of EPNs has been made in the past decade. The number of target pests shown to be susceptible to EPNs has continued to increase. Advancements in this regard primarily have been made in soil habitats where EPNs are shielded from environmental extremes, but progress has also been made in use of nematodes in above-ground habitats owing to the development of improved protective formulations. Progress has also resulted from advancements in nematode production technology using both in vivo and in vitro systems; novel application methods such as distribution of infected host cadavers; and nematode strain improvement via enhancement and stabilization of beneficial traits. Innovative research has also yielded insights into the fundamentals of EPN biology including major advances in genomics, nematode-bacterial symbiont interactions, ecological relationships, and foraging behavior. Additional research is needed to leverage these basic findings toward direct improvements in microbial control